I recently had to convert a dynamic disk back to a basic one so I could use Acronis with it and found that if you deleted the partitions on it within Windows XP using Disk Manager and formatted it the disk remained dynamic. I turned it back into a basic disk by using the Windows 98 start up floppy and FDisk to delete the partition, create a new one and format it but you could probably use a Windows XP CD and go through the initial steps of reinstalling Windows XP and when all the disks are listed, choose the disk you want to make basic, delete the partitions on it and format it and it would probably work as well and turn it into a basic disk. To ensure that the existing Windows installation remained unaltered while you did this or that you didn't accidentally choose the wrong disk you could disconnect all the hard disks apart from the one you wanted to change back to basic before you did this.

Please be aware that Acronis True Image 9.0 does not support Windows dynamic disks. Thus, you should convert your dynamic disk(s) back to basic in order to be able to clone or image this disk(s) using Acronis True Image 9.0.

As for transferring your operating system from IDE to SATA hard drives, please take a look at this article.

You can find the detailed instructions on how to use Acronis True Image 9.0 in the respective User's Guide.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

But how is this possible it isn't possible to convert dynamic disks to basic disks - is it?

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It certainly is possible. A dynamic disk is physically identical to a basic disk. The thing that makes it 'dynamic' is not hardware related but rather something to do with the way the disk is initially set up to operate and this is changeable back to the more usual basic disk set up. I recently posted about how Norton SystemWorks 2006 had changed all my basic disks to dynamic making it impossible to use Acronis (Acronis could not even see the dynamic disks when using the boot CD) until I changed them back to basic disks. I changed one of the disks back using the Windows 98 start up floppy to go into Dos and apply FDisk to delete the partition, create a new one and format the disk but if you don't feel comfortable with or are unfamiliar with this method you could probably achieve the same result by booting with the Windows XP CD in your CD Rom drive and the bios set to boot from CD before the hard disk and go through the initial steps of reinstalling Widows XP. When the disks in your computer are shown, delete the partition on the dynamic disk and then format it (doing this within Windows XP doesn’t work as the disk stays dynamic) or you could try the way described in the link provided by Menorcaman.

I found this explanation of what a Dynamic disk is at a Microsoft site:

I also found a simple way (you certainly don't need to have advanced computer skills to follow the steps!) to change Dynamic disks to Basic disks from within Windows although it appears to be the first thing I tried when I attempted it using Disk Manager and did not work for me but I may have done something wrong:

This is also from a Microsoft site:

How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk
To change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk:
1. Back up all the data on all the volumes on the disk you want to convert to a basic disk.
2. Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
3. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
4. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
5. In the left pane, click Disk Management.
6. Right-click a volume on the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk, and then click Delete Volume.
7. Click Yes when you are prompted to delete the volume.
8. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each volume on the dynamic disk.
9. After you have deleted all the volumes on the dynamic disk, right-click the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk, and then click Convert to Basic Disk.

NOTE:You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title on the left side of the Details pane. For example, right-click Disk 1.

Please be aware that as I have already mentioned above Acronis True Image 9.0 allows you to backup\clone basic disks only. It does not allow you to perform any imaging\cloning operations on the dynamic disks both from under Windows and when running in rescue mode (e.g. Bootable Rescue CD).

Please also note that I'm not eligible to provide you with the instructions on how to convert dynamic disk back to basic, but you can try to follow TheQuest's method suggested above by Menorcaman.

Acronis True Image 9 does not work with dynamic disks.
You cannot convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk without losing all the contents on the dynamic disk.
So you need to back up the contents of the dynamic disc before you convert it to a basic disk.
But you cannot do this with Acronis True Image 9 because it does not work with dynamic discs.

I recall that there is another suggestion similar to that mentioned by the quest somewhere on this forum.

It might be in the DiskDirector forum, as I recall it used just the disk editor and changing the volume type did the trick.

However, i also recall ggoglingat that time and found some other websites with similar information.

As far as I know changing the volume type doesn't actually wipe the contents of your disk, just the pointers to where all the files are. I'm not sure if with a dynamic disk if the MFT is updated as well as the file volume which lurks in that spare 7-8Mb at the end of your dynamic disk. If the MFT is updated then I'd hazard a guess, that losing the volume info won't be a disaster. - Perhaps the MS newsgroups might be of some help.

Correct. However, certain flavours of True Image 9.1 do work with dynamic disks but, even then, there are some limitations (this extract from TI 9.1 Server FAQ refers. TI 9.1 Enterprise Server has the same restriction):

Yes, Acronis True Image 9.1 Server for Windows supports Windows LDM (also called Dynamic Disks). You can create an image of a volume of any type and later restore the imaged volume back to dynamic or basic disk. There is one restriction however if Acronis True Image 9.1 Server for Windows run in its standalone mode, dynamic disks will be not accessible. Therefore, to be able to restore a system partition, you must keep its image on a basic disk

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You cannot convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk without losing all the contents on the dynamic disk.